


Five things Padma Patil and Luna Lovegood said they did not believe in

by lenapinewoods



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 12:27:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18873214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lenapinewoods/pseuds/lenapinewoods
Summary: “It was expected though; you could never know about love prophesies.”





	Five things Padma Patil and Luna Lovegood said they did not believe in

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ideare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideare/gifts).



> Written for the rarepair_shorts Winter Exchange 2017.
> 
> Happy Holidays ideare! I really enjoyed writing your fic :) Your prompts put me out of my comfort zone which was a good thing. I had never written a five things fic before, but I had so much fun writing it – I hope you like it! I also included non-linear story telling and initially was going for an unreliable narrator but in the end it turned out rather more ironic than unreliable. Also, a big thanks to my betas Rizzy and Elena Gray!

**1**

Padma Patil said she did not believe in omens. She said she didn’t believe it was possible to foresee the future in a foggy crystal ball or in a lump of wet tea leaves. She made fun of her sister’s attempts to seek guidance from the movements of planets and Tarot cards. For Padma, dreams were just dreams, and she considered premonitions to be merely reflections of one’s subconscious fears and desires, certainly not warnings or signs about what was to come.

It didn’t mean, however, that she didn’t find it odd when for several nights in a row she awoke early in the morning, having dreamt of a silver hare. It was almost as if it had not been a dream at all, almost like the hare had actually been there in her room. It was impossible, of course; no enchanted hare or any other creature, for that matter, would’ve been able to pass through the wards she had set up around the apartment she shared with her sister. Parvati complained that Padma had overdone it, that the wards were there only for her annoyance (”Do you know how difficult it is to bring anyone here when your spells are always blocking the Floo? Even though your social life is non-existent, it doesn’t mean that mine should be!”) but Padma needed the spells to feel safe. It had been a year and a half since the war ended, but there were still Death Eaters on the run and Padma thought it was better to take too many precautions than to be sorry later.

On the third morning, when she lied awake in her bed, staring at the pale rays of light the early morning sun cast on her ceiling, Padma considered telling her sister about her recurring dreams. But then she remembered that silly séance or whatever that gathering was called that Parvati had held in their apartment on the last Saturday night three nights ago, and Padma was sure her sister would think it meant something it didn’t, and then she would make a big deal out of it. And that would be of no help. So Padma decided it was better to keep her dreams to herself.

 

**2**

Luna Lovegood said she did not believe in using magic to make someone like you. She said she didn’t think anyone should use charms, potions or spells to make another person find them more appealing, let alone to make someone fall in love. This was a lesson she had learned from her mother when she had come home crying after her first day in Madame Hoppery’s House for Young Witches and Wizards (where she had insisted on going) and asked her mum if she could use magic to make other children like her. Her mother had told her, ”If I would use my magic to make other people like you, you would never know who are your true friends – those that choose to be with you because they love you the way you are.” Since then, Luna had believed that real friends find you and love happens when it’s supposed to happen.

That didn’t mean that she wasn’t a little bit interested when Daphne took out an old book called Everywitch’s Handbook for Romance: 100 Wicked Ways to Charm a Gentleman. ”This used to belong to my great grandma,” Daphne said proudly, holding the book in front of her. ”It contains a hundred spells, potions and predictions related to love, sex and romance!” Luna, Daphne, Lavender and Parvati were all sitting in the living room floor of Patil home, having their ”monthly session of prophesies, scandals and gossip” as Lavender called it. The tradition had been born last year when Parvati had started at London’s Institute of Wizarding Fashion (the same school Madame Malkin had attended) at the same time with Daphne, and the two girls had discovered that they had much more in common than they had thought. The rivalry between Slytherins and Gryffindors had been quite effective in preventing friendships developing between the two houses in Hogwarts, but now with the school – and the war – over, things were different.

Luna, on the other hand, had initially been friends with just Lavender, whom she had gotten to know better when she volunteered at St. Mungo after the war and Lavender was there recovering from Greyback’s attack. Through Lavender, Luna had become friends with Parvati too, and eventually with Daphne, although with Daphne she wasn’t that close yet. Luna had a feeling that Daphne might’ve still felt a little bit guilty about being mean to her in Hogwarts, because Daphne often seemed to go out of her way to be nice to Luna.

”Is that even legal?” Lavender asked, eyeing the book with a look on her face that implied she was rather more excited than worried.

”Probably not,” Daphne grinned. ”Which makes this even more fun! Who wants to go first? Luna?” she asked and handed the book over.

”If we’re going to predict who’s going to be my next lover, I’m sure the result will be professor Flitwick,” Luna said, with a serious face. ”My cat loves him and cats usually know these things.”

”I’m… I’m not quite sure that’s true,” Daphne said cautiously. Luna tried to keep her face straight, not quite managing. Daphne just never got it when she made a joke.

Parvati prepared them a pot of Indian chai while Luna explored the book. Some of the charms and potions seemed a bit dubious but there were a lot of interesting ones as well. She paused on a potion called Amor Plenilunium, a complicated potion which included the reading of ancient runes, the use of peacock feathers, and that only worked on a full moon. Luna didn’t need to look out of the window to know the moon was full that night – she was always aware of the moon phases.

”I want to do this one,” she said firmly.

”Which one is it?” Lavender leaned over to see the page and frowned slightly as she read the instructions through. ”Oh wow, sweet. Good choice, Luna. This is going to be interesting!”

 

**3**

Padma Patil said she did not believe things existed without explanation. She said she believed that everything could be explained, but often people just didn’t know what the explanation was. That’s why it bothered her so much when after five days of visits from the silver hare she still couldn’t understand what she was experiencing. To be honest, she wasn’t even sure it was a dream at all – maybe it was just in her head? Was she imagining it? What was happening to her? She had searched through probably a few hundred books in the university library, all for nothing. She was getting desperate. It didn’t help that she had promised to show the university to older students of Hogwarts, who were visiting. Above everything, she had been assigned to tutor Dennis Creevey, who wanted to know every possible detail about the history of the university, and kept scribbling down every single word that came out of her mouth.

”….and this is the only Wizarding university in the UK area, right?”

”Hmm? Umm, yeah, that’s correct,” Padma said, absentmindedly.

”You seem kind of tired. A rough test ahead?” Dennis asked, with a knowing smile.

”What? Ehh, no,” Padma said. They were in the hallway and Dennis was furiously copying in his notebook the text from some famous witch’s memorial slate that hang on the wall.

Padma looked out of the window. There was a rabbit outside, very different to the hare she had been seeing. This one was a chubby, grey, city rabbit, not slender and bright like her dream creature. Something came to her mind, an idea she had already rejected a few times. She had thought it wasn’t possible that the animal was the result of magic, because wayward magic wasn’t supposed to penetrate her wards. The idea was crazy, but with it’s hazy silver appearance, she couldn’t help but wonder – what if the hare was actually a Patronus? Padma actually preferred that, since she took pride in being a sensible person who didn’t have a tendency to see non-existent things.

”Maybe it’s a message,” Padma said to herself.

”What?”

”Who do you know that has a hare as their Patronus?” Padma asked. ”This is not a test,” she added impatiently, when Dennis looked puzzled.

”I don’t know… I think Natalie McDonald´s Patronus is a rabbit? She’s a Gryffindor, she started at the same time with me.”

”No, no,” Padma said, frustrated. ”It can’t be anyone inside Hogwarts, the distance too long for that kind of advanced magic…” She knew at least one person whose Patronus was a hare, but that couldn’t be it… or could it? Was this some sort of an elaborate joke made by her sister? She needed to do more research and find out what, or who, was behind this.

”I have to go,” Padma said curtly. ”I’ll see you… when I see you.”

”Maybe later tonight?” Dennis said hopefully. Padma didn’t answer, she was already hurrying towards the library.

 

**4**

Luna Lovegood said she did not believe there was an explanation for everything. She said she thought there were a lot of unexplained things in the world and that frankly, she liked it that way. It was more fascinating, more mystical, when you couldn’t understand it all. That’s why it didn’t bother her much when she woke up the next day after the night at Parvati’s and had no idea whether the Amor Plenilunium had worked or not. It was expected though; you could never know about love prophesies. Luna remembered how they had all sat there quiet, after the potion had been ready, waiting for Luna to drink it. It had been indigo blue, a little bubbly, and it had emitted a faint scent of cardamom and ginger.

”What happens when she drinks it?” Lavender had asked.

“The potion allows you to find your soul mate: the person among all the living people you’re most compatible with,” Parvati read.

“I know,” Lavender said impatiently, twisting a dark brown curl around her finger. “I just read it. But how does it work, exactly?”

”It says here that after drinking the potion, Luna will, during the next moon cycle until the next full moon, send a message to her soul mate…and the soul mate will know it’s Luna,” Daphne had said.

”Well that sounds like utter bullshit, if you ask me,” Luna had heard a voice saying behind her. She had turned to see Padma standing on the doorway, leaning against the doorpost with an amused look on her face.

”Go away Padma,” Parvati had snorted. ”It’s not like I’m forcing you to join us, and you’ve made it clear that you think what we do is stupid, so why do you keep coming here always when I have friends around?”

”She didn’t bother us last week when I was studying here with you, Parvati, and Lavender stopped by, remember?” Daphne had pointed out. Luna had noticed that Padma had turned slightly red at Daphne’s comment, but no one else hadn’t seemed to pay attention to it. For the shortest moment Luna’s eyes had been locked with Padma’s and then Padma had turned her face away.

After Padma had left the room, Luna had drunk the potion. She hadn’t really felt anything, but they had figured that maybe it would take a while for the potion to start working. They had then agreed to meet again on the next full moon, which happened to be on the Winter Solstice, to see if the potion had worked, and also because Parvati wanted to have a small Christmas party.

 

**5 (+1)**

Padma Patil and Luna Lovegood said they did not believe in soul mates. Padma said the idea of a soul mate was just romantic nonsense, she said she’d be lucky if she ever found someone she’d be able to tolerate long enough to be in a relationship with them. Luna believed in many things, but she said she didn’t believe that there was just one person for everyone – how could there be, when there were so many wonderful, interesting, lovable people in the world? That’s why both of them were quite convinced that there was no potion that would allow you to send messages to the one person you’re supposed to be with. That’s why both of them decided to ignore the signs.

However, Padma Patil and Luna Lovegood both believed in always speaking the truth. They believed that honesty was always the best policy and that it was important to speak your mind. That’s why Luna answered, ”I don’t know what you’re talking about”, when Padma asked her, ”Is there something you want to tell me?”. That’s why Padma continued, ”I didn’t think so, and I don’t even like you, you annoy me” and Luna answered ”Good, because I find you utterly non-fascinating.”

They were standing outside the Patil residence, in the freezing December night. They had both needed a little break from Parvati’s Christmas party and ran into each other at the back door while they were both on their way to get some fresh air. Padma was wearing a midnight blue winter cloak and Luna thought that Padma’s eyes were deep and dark as the velvety night sky. Padma thought Luna looked out of place standing there on the wet asphalt, like some ethereal creature, not all human, long hair flowing faintly in the air as she moved.

”Are you sure you’re not part Veela?” Padma asked suddenly. ”Because that would explain it.”

”That would explain the fact that something pulls you near me whenever we’re in the same place?” Luna said, her face serious and eyes wide.

Padma breathed out slowly, her breath white steam in the frozen air. ”Yes.”

Luna took a few steps forward, closer to Padma and took her cold hands into her own.

”I’m not a Veela,” she said.

”I know,” Padma said quietly.

They stood quiet like that for a moment, holding hands under the full moon.

“I got your message,” Padma said, after a while. She was looking at the ground and her face was in the shadows.

“I’m not sure I sent you any. But if I did, or had, I wish you had got it.”

“I guess it doesn’t really matter now.”

“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t.”

Padma rose her eyes with a little unsure smile on her face and saw that Luna was smiling too.

”Do you want to go inside?” Padma said.

”Together?” Luna asked.

”Yeah, together.”

And without letting go of Padma’s hand Luna turned around and led Padma inside.


End file.
